Asian trade: long‐term patterns and key policy issues

Fragmentation‐based specialisation has become an integral part of the economic landscape of East Asia. Dependence on this new form of international specialisation is proportionately larger in East Asia, in particular in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, than in North America and Europe. In this regard, an important recent development has been the rapid integration of China into regional production networks. This development is a counterpoint to the popular belief that China's global integration would crowd out other countries' opportunities for international specialisation. The rise of product fragmentation has strengthened the case for a global, rather than a regional, approach to trade and investment policymaking. Given the global orientation of the region's economies, we question whether there would be a significant benefit from current efforts to promote regional cooperation, unless the principle of ‘open regionalism’ is recognised. With both the Doha Round and APEC floundering, this is one of the major multilateral policy challenges of our time.     

在线购买不信任与信任前因后项关系研究

不信任和信任是两个相互关联但不同结构的一对概念,对此,学术界并没有达成共识。本文通过纵向实证研究,以在线购买为情境,再次验证了这一观点;并且发现,不信任和信任及其前因后项在性别、学历水平、互联网使用时间和网购次数、消费金额方面存在显著差异;消费者在线购买信任的产生更多体现在对安全控制的良好感知,而消费者在线购买不信任的产生更多体现在对不隐私保护的认知;安全控制不仅通过信任间接积极地影响购买意图而且对其也有直接强正作用,不隐私保护不仅通过不信任间接地积极影响不购买意图而且对其也有直接强正作用。这些结论与本论文作者2007年相关的研究结论保持基本一致。该结论将再次对电子商务运营商提供重要启示,即要增加消费者的在线购买信任和意图着力点必须在安全控制,而消除不信任和不购买意图更重要是消除不隐私保护。     

Tenant satisfaction assessment in social housing in England: How reliable? How meaningful?

Since the 1980s there has been a growing emphasis on consumerizing welfare services as a form of provider accountability and as part of the commercialization of public agencies, which has formed part of the New Public Management reforms. Associated with this, the structured measurement of tenant satisfaction is well established in England's social housing sector and has become increasingly important in informing official assessments of social landlord effectiveness. This paper investigates whether published tenant satisfaction scores are sufficiently reliable and robust to serve as a pre‐eminent and unambiguous service quality measure, examines the validity of comparing recorded satisfaction rates for social landlords operating in different social and demographic contexts, and looks into how raw survey results could be adjusted to take account of ‘context’ factors outside a landlord's direct control.     

CONSUMER PERCEPTION OF CORPORATE DONATIONS Effects of Company Reputation for Social Responsibility and Type of Donation

In cause-related marketing (CRM), a company agrees to donate money to a charity each time a consumer engages in a revenue-producing transaction with the firm. Since the company benefits first before any obligation to donate is accrued, consumers might perceive this practice to be less altruistic than an unconditional donation to a cause. If so, CRM could backfire, injuring corporate image. This study investigated the effects of type of donation (conditional or not conditional upon corporate revenue) and reputation of the firm making the donation (firms described as scrupulous, average, or irresponsible in the discharge of their social responsibility) on consumer regard for the firm; perceived mercenary intent of the firm; and whether the social performance of the company is consistent with "good" management. Consumer responses were predicted based on the contrast effect and attribution theory. Results suggest that irresponsible firms increased their favor with consumers by pursuing either type of donation. The average firm enhanced its image by pursuing an unconditional donation, but a conditional donation did not damage firm image. Perception of the scrupulous firm was little changed after unconditional donation, but a scrupulous firm suffered a loss of favor by pursuing CRM. It is concluded that the average firm does not risk a loss of public goodwill when using CRM.